Say When
by WhatsABriard
Summary: Falling into life, a series of pre-canon Robert/Cora drabbles. 50 prompts, 100 words each. Loosely following the first two decades of marriage, children, and Downton. Updated Daily.
1. Intro

**Say When**

Introduction and Author's Notes: JamesLuver has a lovely series of Robert/Cora drabbles that have inspired me to write my own. I have foolishly undertaken 100 prompts, and I'm giving them each 100 words.

They are all Robert/Cora, because some part of me thinks that canon 'ships are less likely to be painful. We all know what a laugh that truly is, and I'm not looking at Jane when I say that _at all_.

But these two. They fascinate me. The drabbles in this "series" are as loosely timed as the series itself. They start far pre-canon, not long after the marriage. How and where they end up remains to be seen.

I forsee ratings in the T zone, but I can't promise we won't venture into M sometimes. People, they still share a room. I cannot even.


	2. 001: Crash

Her bedroom door ricocheted off the wall with an enormous crash.

"How dare you..." Robert began from the doorway, but trailed off meekly at the sight of her, freshly risen from a hot bath.

Cora turned to face him and it was anger that had her dropping the drying sheet to her feet.

"Come to inspect your brood mare?"

Downton, dowry, entail, heirs. Her worth to him was measured in dollars, cents and fertility.

It had taken only one family dinner to remind Cora that in a transaction marriage, it was never wise to fall in love with one's husband.


	3. 002: Dim

She filled her bedroom with candles, an apology for her recent behavior.

Perhaps not apology, she mentally amended. Peace offering.

Robert was a good man with good intentions. He tried often to temper his mother's scathing words but it was something to which Cora knew she would simply have to become accustomed.

She had married into this life with both eyes open, aware of the decision she was making.

And so when he stepped into the room, she took him into her arms.

She was not enough to make him happy. Downton made him happy.

And Downton needed an heir.


	4. 003: Futile

He was a cad, a thoughtless lout, and a coward.

These were odd thoughts for a man still in the arms of his wife, after she had entertained him good and properly in a room alight with flickering candles.

But it was a truth that was futile to ignore, and Robert Crawley never shrank from the truth of things.

Cora's head rested on his chest, her fingertips drawing lazy, exploratory circles across his skin.

She sought to please him, to make him happy.

She loved him.

It terrified him.

And more frightening still...he thought he might love her back.


	5. 004: Erratic

Robert Crawley prided himself on a cool head, a keen eye and a steady hand.

He took great joy in his English control, even while holding his mother at bay, learning to manage an estate that was his life, and juggling his very unpredictable wife.

Yet when that very wife stood before him, boldly wandering the halls in her nightclothes, he felt his steady heartbeat trip against his chest.

Her smile beckoned him, her bearing nothing short of desire. Stepping forward, he felt the tethers loosen and his pulse (his desire, his very life) danced into a deliciously erratic staccato.


	6. 005: Loved

They have been married for six months and three days when he spends his first whole night in her room.

Cora's voice is muffled by his chest when she sleepily (yet facetiously, he thinks) asks what his mother would make of it.

At that moment, Robert doesn't care in the slightest. The bed in his dressing room was made fresh each day and there was no need for Lady Grantham to know it wasn't in use.

"It's the look of the thing that matters," He repeated what his mother loved to say, only just now appreciating exactly what she meant.


	7. 006: Soft

There is terror in the voice of Violet's daughter-in-law when she asks that a doctor be sent for.

Her truly frightened eyes are enough for Lady Grantham to do Cora's bidding with nary a barbed response.

Later, after the good doctor has gone, Violent is amused by Cora's befuddlement as she cradles her abdomen.

A child. A grandchild. A baby.

"You can hardly be surprised, my dear." Violent says imperiously. "After all, Robert is in your bed every night."

Cora's stricken expression dissolves into a wry smile and Violet titters out loud.

Something between the two women begins to soften.


	8. 007: Hold

She cannot tell him at luncheon.

There's no time before they dress for the evening.

It isn't appropriate discussion for dinner; she is to play whist with the ladies after.

Her heart is bursting and there are so many _rules_.

They retire for the evening and she pauses on the landing, unable to withhold this gift any longer.

"Robert, you're to be a father." She blurts. She doesn't know what to expect of him, usually so annoyingly stoic. He elicits an amused shriek as he sweeps her into his arms.

He carries her the rest of the way to bed.


	9. 008: Shackles

Downton has an heir, and the word spreads quickly.

Robert can't hide his pride.

His friends clap his back and congratulate him. Others insinuate he is now relieved of responsibility to his wife. Still others encourage a mistress.

Robert realizes with a start how binding he finds his society, with its shackles of propriety and snobbery, and backwards righteousness; he embraces the freedom Cora has given him.

Perhaps his mother had been right; marrying an American would spell ruin for the way things used to be.

And good riddance.


	10. 009: Broken

Cora is not overly sensitive, so it shocks her husband to find her sobbing at her dressing table.

"It's broken!" She wails into his chest, and for a heart-stopping second he fears for the baby. But instead she holds up a comb, a gift from her mother, snapped in half.

He buries a smile as he gathers his shuddering wife into his arms. His mother warned him of this, in her oblique way. His wife is far from home, far from her mother.

And pregnant.

She cries herself to sleep in his arms. Sometimes he forgets she is so young.


	11. 010: Precious

There is something no one is saying.

_What if it's a girl?_

Robert can't help but think of his legacy, his home, his wife's fortune, all inextricably tied to the gender of his child.

A boy would be the answer to his prayers, but Robert knows all too well the danger of unrealistic expectation. He has first-hand knowledge of the injustice of placing the precarious and precious future of Downton on one person.

That night, when he feels his child bump against his hand for the first time, he touches his future and his true legacy.

No matter what.


	12. 011: Odds and Ends

Cora can feel the anger in her father's letter before she even reads it.

After much badgering, her last letter fully apprised him of the contents of the entail. She had (foolishly) hoped news of a grandchild would temper his outrage.

Yet as he called the thing a ridiculous act of legal theft, she guessed not.

_Should the child not be a boy, you've managed to arrange nothing but misery for my first grandchild. Congratulations, Cora._

Robert took notice of her pained expression. "Is all well, my love?"

She crumpled her father's recriminations. "Just some odds and ends from America."


	13. 012: Tea

Robert is unprepared for the change pregnancy would wreak on his wife. Perhaps some mood swings and a growing waist-line but he would have never expected..._this_.

It is fully daylight (tea time!) when she drops onto his knee in the study and presses her lips to his neck. She doesn't even feign embarrassment when Carson enters the room.

"You needn't be such a prude," She chastises as he hurries her upstairs. "Carson knows I'm pregnant and I'm sure he knows how it happened."

At her bedroom door her dimples flash and invite him in.

For tea, of course.


	14. 013: Twisted

Cora's eyes are overbright and her cheeks flushed when Emma enters to remove the untouched tea service. "Is her ladyship feeling well?"

"Just fine." Cora nods, but she can't quite hide the wobble in her voice. Emma looks her over critically, her shrewd gaze taking in the details of the rumpled room and the rumpled Lady.

The bedroom door clicks shut behind her and Cora quickly flings open the door to her armoire. Robert, half dressed and tangled in her robes, tumbles out unceremoniously.

"This is the last time I agree to tea with you," he grumbles with a grin.


	15. 014: Echo

Cora's cries echo through the house and Robert paces, cursing propriety.

Silence falls like a curtain only to be chased away by the lusty wail of a baby.

He enters the room to find his wife pale-faced. When she passes the bundle to Robert, her hands tremble.

"I'm sorry." She whispers.

"For what?"

She shrugs helplessly, a single tear sliding down her cheek as she gazes at their daughter.

At his disappointment?

_Brood mare_, she'd called herself, and Robert is ashamed.

They have been married just about a year when he tells her he loves her...and means it.

A/N - I don't believe that Robert only realized he loved Cora/fell in love with her on the birth of their child. I do, however, believe that it may have been Mary's birth that galvanizes Robert to push past his deeply ingrained stoicism to SAY it. It would have been such a tenuous time for Cora, I'd like to think that Robert would realize just how terrified she would have been to have failed him, and realize how important it was for her to HEAR it.


	16. 015: Soothe

Cora is fascinated by her daughter. She counts fingers and toes obsessively, every bit of her a delight.

Her eyes are a deep, storm-tossed gray.

Her hair, gorgeously soft, is dark as night.

For the space of a breath, a handful of heartbeats, Cora felt regret for the life of this child. The one who should have saved them all, but was instead so fragile and so pink.

The infant yawns widely and fusses; Cora soothes her whimpers with a gentle coo and a kiss to her downy head.

How could she regret this? She never could.

Not ever.


	17. 016: Fight

Each day that Mary grows, something grows within Cora as well.

Where she once withered and blanched under her mother-in-law's biting retorts, now her spine stiffens and her chin juts in a way that Violet calls "absurdly American."

They battle - constantly - about everything. Occasionally Cora relents, allowing that perhaps Violet knows something of child-rearing, as Robert and Rosamund testify.

However it is the presentation of a young wet-nurse that precipitates the battle royale.

"My child." Cora enunciates, her eyes flashing, daring Robert to weigh in. "My decision."

"It's just not _done_." Violet insists.

"It is now."

_A/N - Quick and dirty googling of the history of breastfeeding tells me that it was increasingly common in America in the early 1900's, but that wet-nursing was a much more common practice in Europe and France until WWI. If that's wrong, yell at google. I tried! Honest!_


	18. 017: Naked

Robert's cheeks flush bright fuchsia when he walks into the bedroom to find Cora nursing Mary.

"I'm so sorry," He stammers to excuse himself, but he is stopped by the whisper of his name. The shallow tilt of her head indicates the space beside her and he sits stiffly, terribly aware of the impropriety.

Her smile is indulgent, both at father and sweet daughter. Robert slowly relaxes, transfixed by the baby's gentle mewling.

The naked emotion and pride on her husband's face makes Cora's heart clench and she thinks she cannot love him more than she does at that moment.


	19. 018: Push

Mary is hardly five months old when Violet starts in again.

"You need an heir," She harps as though he isn't acutely aware. "You need to think of Downton."

She has no idea that Downton is all he thinks of. And how one day he will inevitably trade his daughter's happiness for it.

Cora enters with the baby, who holds her chubby arms out for Papa. Her unabashed trust undermines his detachment and he presses his lips to her forehead.

He won't think about future betrayals that can't be helped. Not now.

There would be time enough for that later.


	20. 019: Alive

It takes much coaxing and reassurance to get Cora out of the house for the first time since the birth. Indeed, it is only Carson's besotted expression of devotion that settles her enough to leave.

Robert teases her on the ride to the Danforth's and as minutes pass, her eyes brighten and her complexion flushes. The young girl she once was emerges from beneath the worried mother she's become.

They are stepping down from the carriage when Cora whispers to her husband, her fingers on his shoulder, tickling his neck. "Make me feel alive tonight, Robert."

"Later, Darling," He promises.


	21. 020: New

There is something new growing between them. Finer than their easy lust. More complex than mere love. Deeper than ordinary friendship.

Cora has aged, grown, matured. She has adopted his way of life as her own.

Robert has opened his heart as well as his mind. He has come to understand his wife, her heart and humor, and her unique _American-ness_.

Their lovemaking is no longer a simple purpose, a means to an end, it's an expression of all she can't say and all he won't.

_We can do this._

_I'm sorry._

_We'll make it._

_I love you._

_Forever._

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN** - I'm going to be posting twice a day for a while, simply because I'm written so far out. Like 30 days ahead of myself. Might as well get it out into the world. ;)  
><em>


	22. 021: Born

"Darling, how experienced were you when we were married?" Cora's offhand question leaves Robert sputtering.

Eyes trained on her book, her trembling lips betray her calm facade.

It was still very new to him, speaking so plainly with her. Usually she managed to shock him in conversation just this way.

"It wasn't the same..." he began lamely.

"I should say not," She snapped her book shut and her eyes were playfully dangerous. "As it was _I_ who was essentially paying _you_ for the privilege."

Their laughter is borne of understanding. However they got here didn't matter. Being together was the point.

* * *

><p><em>AN - It is my understanding that men of a certain social status were often allowed (nay, encouraged!) to seek the companionship of professionals. I'm sure Robert and Cora were both quite young when they married, but Cora moreso than Robert. He was at least 16-18 in 1882 and by the time he met/married Cora he had survived war and seen some of the world. I don't doubt he was at least marginally more experienced than she and I'm almost certain he was introduced to the art of sex in a brothel. Much better for wealthy young men to exercise their lusts with professionals, rather than knocking up maids (which I'm sure happened often enough to cause headaches)._


	23. 022: Murmur

Murmurs in drawing rooms, whispered exchanges in the servants quarters. Gossip had its way.

However, when Lord Grantham catches the first bit of scandal linked to Cora (and by virtue of relation, Mary), the origin matters little.

"You mustn't kill the messenger," Cora admonishes, cradling Robert's bruised hand in her lap, dabbing his knuckles gently with a cool cloth. Her rebuke might have been more effective if she didn't look quite so pleased.

In future, acquaintances of the Crawley family would exercise better judgement when revealing salacious gossip in the Earl's presence, lest they too be knocked on their arses.


	24. 023: Devious

Robert and Cora learn very quickly just how bright their child is.

Devious, says her nurse, but Cora insists it is merely good old-fashioned American ingenuity.

She toddles through the house on chubby legs, dark curls escaping her bonnet and manages to swindle biscuits from servants at every turn.

Particularly Carson, who behaves as though the sun rises and sets on the child's whims.

"An unabashed little con," Robert replies to Cora's recount of their daughter's exploits. He cannot help but be relieved. Like it or not, it is a skill that will serve their Mary well one day.


	25. 024: Isolation

Cora hates when Robert is away. She has no idea he feels the same.

He was to accompany her on a trip to take Mary to visit America, but pressing matters at Downton forced him to miss the crossing.

Her letters are filled with excitement for the journey and barely veiled longing for his arms. He reads and re-reads them, keeping them in a box on the desk in the library.

He feels terribly isolated in the big country house, knowing that when it came to Downton Abbey, it was a distance he would never be able to overcome.


	26. 025: Starved

Robert can't sleep in the bed all alone. Cora's perfume clings to the pillows, driving him half mad with loneliness.

Unable to sleep, he finds himself in the village pub with no lack of females to catch his eye.

A dark-haired temptress corners him playfully and he is so starved for attention, he briefly considers her offer. In the end he declines. Cora would never know, but he would.

Alone in his dressing room he slumps on his bed, thoughts of Cora invading his mind. He closes his eyes and takes matters into his own hands.

So to speak.


	27. 026: Breakable

Cora isn't home two days before her mother begins the inquisition. She'd hoped Mary's presence would buy more time, but apparently not.

Nobody says _divorce_, but they needn't bother. The absorption of her dowry into the estate is still a sore subject, and her father has hired a legion of lawyers to investigate the entail.

Cora assures them, with an imperious tone adapted from her mother-in-law, that it isn't breakable.

"I won't leave him," Cora says with an air of finality, Mary settled on her knee. Her mother's expression is impassive, a sign of irritation. "I love him."


	28. 027: Winter

The grounds are blanketed with white when Cora and Mary return, not long before Christmas.

Robert surprises his ladies with gifts and affection, and Cora teases him about the impact of absence on his heart. He cannot help but to touch her, a soothing hand over her shoulder or the press of his fingers on her knee.

"I should leave more often." She says cheekily, pleased by his solicitousness, and he brushes a knuckle under her chin, leaning in for a kiss.

"Tea," Mary demands, interrupting and climbing into Robert's lap. Over her head Cora's smile is a promise.

_Later._


	29. 028: Ignore

_God_, Robert thinks to himself as he collapses on his side. He knows that Cora can be fierce, but he is unprepared for the fervor with which she pursues their first night back together.

"Again", she whispers and crawls to press fully to his back, one thigh draped over his. Her skin glows in the firelight and he isn't sure he has _again_ in him.

Her lips press to the back of his neck, ignoring his fatigue, and she draws her hands down his chest, nails scraping over his abdomen.

His groan is part pleasure, part pain.

All desire.

_Again._


	30. 029: Colour

Dirty gray snow and murky brown mud are forced to give was as Downton moves slowly through spring and into summer.

Bright blue sky meets the earthy green grass of the lawn as the grounds become lush and fertile once more.

Cora, again heavy with child, blooms in time with the tulips, a rosy hue staining her cheeks.

This one will surely be a boy, she thinks, pressing her hands over the growing child, swallowing past a lump in her throat.

Mary romps with her nurse in the distance, pink ribbons dancing on the breeze.

She cannot fail again.


	31. 030: Grace

By the time their third daughter appears, they have reached a comfortable state of contentment.

Robert's first cousin was blessed with a boy, and the bright-eyed cherubic Patrick was the heir and would one day be wed to Mary, God willing.

At her most American, Cora chafes at the idea of an arranged marriage. However if she was going to be able to bestow upon her girls the legacy of her wealth, it had to be through Crawley good graces.

Besides, she thinks, watching her frightfully independent eldest canter her pony around the front garden. Brave Mary could handle anything.


	32. 031: Belong

"Care for a drink, Lady Grantham?" Despite her long-married status, Cora is still terribly popular during the Season. She is still exotic enough to be tantalizing, but no longer a societal outcast.

Cora is on the verge of declining when Robert appears at her elbow. His touch is firm and possessive as he makes swift apology and steers her to the empty balcony.

His hands splay on the bare skin of her back and he draws her into the shadows.

He brands her with lips and touch until her knees are weak.

"You belong to me," He murmurs against her throat.

"Yes."


	33. 032: Choke

"But Mama," Edith wails, red-faced and hair mussed, her usually tidy pinafore smudged and wrinkled. "Mary started it."

Each day was some variation of the day before, with the two eldest girls engaged in some form of battle.

Usually their scuffles were psychological in nature, however sometimes their altercations could turn physical.

"She tried to choke me!" Mary sniffs haughtily from her neutral corner. Oddly, she hardly appears mussed at all.

Eyebrows heavenward Cora ones more asks God for the strength to manage a house of women, with a husband who could only look baffled and disappear into the library.


	34. 033: Reach

It hardly ever mattered what Lady Violet got on about, only that one should do everything possible to avoid being a target. It's a skill at which Cora was becoming more and more adept.

Robert, however, looks a bit like a chastened schoolboy when his mother set her sights on him.

It is therefore a relief to him when Cora reaches for his hand beneath the table, threading their fingers together tightly. Her sideways smile accompanies an understanding squeeze, comrades under fire.

She feels bad, of course, but will admit to an overwhelming relief to have Violet's attentions set elsewhere.


	35. 034: Difficult

An avid reader, Cora's most treasured stories were the ones written on Robert's face.

It was no longer difficult to understand him and anticipate his needs, in spite of his instinctive stoicism.

His right eye drooped when he was tired and he worried his pocketwatch when concerned. She knew the seemingly innocent grin that meant he desired her, and the eyebrow that indicated she'd disappointed him. The twist of his lips when something amused him that shouldn't was terribly sweet.

His anger was fleeting but fierce, his love hidden but deep.

She would never tire of reading him, her husband. Her Robert.


	36. 035: Heat

"It is too damn cold." Robert complains for the eighty third time that day. Despite roaring fires in every room, the cavernous space is drafty, especially under several feet of frigid snow.

"Oh darling, coming to bed." Cora pleads, her voice muffled by the blanket, pulled up over her nose. "There's nothing more to be done."

With an irritated sigh he sheds his robe and slippers and climbs in, instinctively moving towards her warmth and waiting arms.

His moody expression melts when he curls into bare flesh and blessed body heat.

They don't worry about the cold at all that night.

* * *

><p><em>From here on out we enter another mini-arc. Ehhehheh.<em>


	37. 036: Veneer

Contrary to popular belief, life is not always perfect in Downton Abbey. Arguments, disagreements and misunderstandings are common. However through all of life's bumps and scrapes, their breeding and heritage dictate a fine veneer that softens the rough spots for the onlooker.

Cora doesn't understand the point of feigning contentment and Robert's entreaties to avoid histrionics usually yields a chill so intense even the Dowager dare not interfere.

When Cora is angry, it is the only time Robert fears her.

And though he would never ever tell her, it is also the only time she reminds him of his mother.


	38. 037: Fall

"Cora, when you get like this you remind me of my mother." As soon as he realizes he's said it out loud, Robert longs to pluck the words out of the air.

He watches helplessly as Cora's shoulders tighten beneath her pale dressing gown and her usually gentle mouth hardens to a thin line.

"Robert, I'm sure I just misheard you." She sounds so dangerously amicable. Robert isn't stupid enough to respond.

Silence descends like a heavy cloak and when he meets her eyes in the mirror he takes an involuntary step back.

He barely escapes to his dressing room.


	39. 038: Nightmare

Robert wakes beneath the scratchy, uncomfortable sheets of his dressing room to the startled face of his valet.

"Your lordship," the young man fumbles and Robert groans aloud.

"So it wasn't a nightmare."

"I'm sorry milord?"

"I've made a mistake, Johnson. A terrible mistake." He rubs his palm across his eyes, trying to erase the hurt he'd seen underlying Cora's (righteous) rage.

"Perhaps you should apologize, sir." It was no secret that Robert never slept in his dressing room, unless her Ladyship was peeved. He gave Robert a small, understanding smile.

_Grovel more like_, Robert thought.

Beg, grovel, and apologize.


	40. 039: Contagious

"Oh Papa." For a child of just six, Mary's tone is quite patronizing. He is sure she rolls her eyes as she heads out of the library.

Robert has been the household pariah for days and he wonders if Cora's foul mood is catching. His daughters seem to avoid him, and baby Sybil fusses in his arms.

He feels that even the maids are giving him the stink eye and his beloved girl, Anubis, hardly has time for him.

Desperation sends him seeking the consult of his mother, against his better judgement.

Her uninhibited laughter is no help at all.


	41. 040: Good Riddance

He sleeps by himself for two nights.

Three. Four. Seven.

Robert wonders how long Cora can keep up the embargo.

Eight. Nine.

Setting aside his reservations he relieves himself of building pressure on his own. It is only marginally satisfying.

Ten.

He is convinced that it is possible to die of neglect.

Thirteen.

He jettisons his pride and bursts through her bedroom door, wild-eyed. "This cannot continue." He inwardly curses the strain in his voice, as he catches sight of her reclining against the headboard, her feet bare beneath her dressing gown.

"Finally," She says primly, setting aside her book.


	42. 041: Goodbye

Now that he has her attention, he is not exactly sure what to do with it. He stars simply enough.

"Cora, I am so deeply sorry."

An arched brow is her only response; he knew it would not be so easy.

"I didn't intend to hurt you."

Silence.

"My darling, what can I do to make it up to you?"

She gives an irritated snort and turns away from him, bunching the pillow beneath her head.

Broken down, Robert falls to his knees beside the bed, bids a fond farewell to his dignity and does what needs doing.

He begs.


	43. 042: Scarred

Robert realizes, belatedly, how deeply he has wounded Cora with his thoughtless remark.

She has spent their marriage following his direction to fulfill her roll as Countess. She gave up life, country and many innate sensibilities to become the wife he requires. Day in an out she withstands judgement from friend and foe on her carriage, wardrobe, accent and fertility.

Her heart, which seeks only to please him, is easily lanced by his words. She would heal in time, but would always bear the scar of his thoughtlessness.

Deeply sad and deeply sorry, he gathers her to him.

She cries.


	44. 043: Last Dance

They end this particular chapter with a familiar dance.

Robert allows his wife to lead, to set the pace, to follow the familiar steps.

Where she is usually playful, Cora is solemn and thoughtful. Her blue eye bore down into his and he longs to vanquish the last vestiges of hurt from them.

He remains pliable beneath her touch rising to meet her when she asks, remaining still when she presses into his chest.

Their lovemaking is less about pleasure and more about peace.

When she finally dozes in his arms, he feels complete for the first time in weeks.

* * *

><p><em>I had a tough time with this prompt because the story wasn't in a particular place for a dance, much less a last one. So you kind of have to tilt your head and squint to find the prompt but you won't hold it against me, will you? ;)<em>


	45. 044: Burn

The terrified shriek fills the halls and both Robert and Cora leap to their feet.

They know, as parents do, that it is Sybil. Together they race towards the sound.

She is sobbing when her parents skid, panting and pale, into the kitchen.

There is an angry read welt across Sybil's palm in the shape of a panhandle and she fights her way out of Mrs. Pattmore's lap to run to her mother.

The cook makes nearly incoherent, and unnecessary, apologies, and is promptly reassured by Robert.

Quiet reigns in the usually busy kitchen as Cora gently kisses the wound.


	46. 045: Steady

It takes Robert's firm grasp on her elbow to successfully maneuver wife and baby back to the nursery.

On the trek Sybil quiets and settles to making quiet whimpers against her mother's neck.

The scare has likely taken years off their lives, and Robert wonders where the young girl's nurse has disappeared to.

Robert tries to be fair and kind to his employees, but he plans to take the skin off the young lady who failed to protect his daughter.

Watching Cora's eyes flash as she cuddles Sybil, he knows the young woman will be getting off easily.


	47. 046: Monster

"But Papa," Edith's tone is wheedling. "What if it gets me?"

For the fourth night in a row Edith stages a coup at bedtime, begging to sleep in Cora's bed. For the fourth night in a row, Cora looks as though she might relent.

"What will get you, Edith?"

"The monster Frankenstein!" She is terribly earnest. "Mary told me. He's hideous and hunts little girls and he'll get me!"

Cora's smiles indulgently and opens her arms; Edith climbs in willingly.

As Robert gets into his lonely double bed he makes plans to deal with Mary first thing in the morning.


	48. 047: Voodoo

When Cora was just a child, her family employed a young maid from Louisiana.

Layla's skin was a lovely pale cocoa and her rich bayou accent fascinated the young yankee socialite.

She shared with Cora many tales of conjure-men and spells, and the art of making little dolls on which she could exact revenge. It had been a tantalizing glimpse of Southern voodoo magic and it was dangerously forbidden.

Years later, after a particularly difficult family dinner in which Violet points out (again!) the lack of a male heir, Cora wonders if such a thing as those dolls actually _worked_.


	49. 048: Shine

Babies grown into young ladies and Downtown reaches a lovely balance.

Robert runs the Estate and Cora runs the house. They are complimentary partners.

Patrick becomes a common guest, and visitors are plentiful.

Tenants are content, pleased with Lord Grantham's generous nature and his wife's kind demeanor.

When Robert stands on a rise that overlooks the vast grounds, Cora pressed to his side, he cannot help but think they are blessed. In the distance his children's laughter becomes shouts, becomes tears, becomes laughter once more.

Good fortune shines on the Crawley family and for that he is ever so grateful.


	50. 049: Intent

Mary is so like Cora it takes Robert's breath away. She is amiable but with a dangerous (and sometimes unrestrained) tongue. She inherited her mother's ability to calculate, but it is tempered by innate kindness.

At twelve years of age, she is blossoming into quite the beauty, and Robert believes her to be mature beyond her years.

His daughter, like his wife, has such a capacity to love. And like his wife, Mary is destined to marry not for passion, but as means to an end.

Unlike Cora, he does not expect his Mary to acquiesce to her fate quietly.


	51. 050: Camping

Afternoon tea finds the entire family camping on the lawn beneath umbrellas.

Robert grips Cora's hand as they watch the children play, and Violet sits several feet away complaining obliquely to anyone who will listen (no one). Mary leads a wild game and Patrick follows her every instruction. Edith sulks but goes along, as she hasn't yet learned to stand up to her sister. Sybil plays separately, inventing in a game of her own, choosing to be free of her sisters' bickering.

It was more than Cora could have ever hoped for; it was worth every bump along the way.

* * *

><p><em>AN - Thus ends this portion of the 100 Drabble Challenge. You can look for the next 50 "chapters" under a new story titled "And...When". They'll start right off with episode 1 and follow along with canon. The last 5 are author's choice and happen to fall in the final eps and Christmas special. Mwahaha. ;)_


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